Talk to me about Twitter

I recommend that you use Twitter by downloading an app called Hootsuite. This allows you to organise your Twitter and Facebook feeds in one place. You can make lists, for instance I have a GRANSNET list where every tweet that mentions the word Gransnet comes up....
There are also lots of online tutorials to help you get the most out of Twitter as there are lots of ways to make the most of it.
But, be warned, it can become very addictive.

Thank you all for contributing. I've signed up!

Now, who to follow?

Being in touch with ordinary people is an important part of a politician's job. Twitter can be useful for that as well as for telling people what they are doing, where they'll be at such and such a time (e.g. for 'surgeries' as they call them) and so on. A progression from paper notices on noticeboards and leaflets through doors.

I do not get twitter either. More importantly, I do not think people like Cameron should use it. I think any MP should take what they do more seriously when at work.

Jud how can you say Twitter is controlled, when Mary Beard and other women have suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of trolls?

I like Twitter too. I like the challenge of the 140 characters.

I like the "no filters" aspect of it. I like it for breaking news, will often check there first. I love following e.g. @Earth_Pics or NASA's space photos, to see amazing things, beyond my wildest dreams.

Kittylester I am here because I saw the tweet about the post coming in from Gransnet. I am not on Facebook because I think it is too intrusive but Twitter is much more controlled.

Since I started using Twitter a year ago I have developed an interest in all sorts of issues, local and national. I follow people I am interested in and often get followed back by them. Lots of new twitter friends. People can be very funny and succinct. 149 characters certainly focuses the mind!

Everyone has their own uses for it and it is amazing how big a response can be generated for issues. At present I am following a woman who has terminal ovarian cancer, terminal because her symptoms were overlooked. She has started a huge campaign to alert women to the symptoms and to try to get screening set up in N. Ireland. She is a very inspiring woman and using twitter to the max.

Yes there are sometimes nasty people but they can easily be blocked.

Best way to learn how to use it is to follow a few people and see what they do with it.

Would welcome anyone from Gransnet who would like to follow. @judthepud2

This is really interesting as my friend and I are looking into setting up some training / workshop sessions for people who just don't 'get' Twitter (and other social media networks) but have an open mind and would like to understand how it works and how they could use it.

Do you think this would be something you'd be interested in doing? Or perhaps know others who would? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I find Twitter interesting. I follow news, trains, politicans, journalists, some 'celebrities' (mainly amusing ones - Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Chris O'Dowd). It is true that you get a faster reaction to a problem if you post to a company's Twitter account. I've done that on a couple of occasions and got almost immediate responses from the companies concerned and the problems were solved.

Of course, I follow Gransnet and Mumsnet!

I use Twitter regularly - get a lot of information from local council, local police, RAC (weather and road reports), breaking news from BBC News, etc - as well as all the "interesting" celebrity stuff from people like Stephen Fry, Lord Sugar, Phillip Schofield, Gino Di'Acampo and plenty of others.

I mostly follow celebs. And Cari.

I find Twitter is very good at pointing me at newspaper articles that I find interesting but which I wouldn't necessarily bother to search for myself. I also like looking at people's photographs and pictures of artwork.

You don't have to join in the silly rows unless you want to. I'm not usually aware that they are even going on unless someone I follow happens to mention it.

Btw, glad to see *feetlebaum" still has an unimpaired-by-flood-water 'puter or i-pad.

Yes when! That's what I am. A "passive" Twitter user. I enjoy reading tweets and they keep me informed, but I rarely actually tweet anything. I don't allow followers either. If any pop up, I block them.

I don't think Twitter would work too well if they were all like me.

I can't be bothered with Facebook, or Facebrag as it is also known, but I am a fan of twitter. I like the fact that its parameters encourage contributors to be pithy and often witty. I also like its immediacy - following the NW police on twitter on the day of the big storm was the fastest way of finding out about road conditions, for example. It can be exciting that there is no intermediary - Margaret Atwood is an enthusiastic user of twitter, and if she tweets, you can tweet right back if you want to.

I was thinking the same nellie plus email!

Housework suffers a lot nellie

I cannot imagine how does anyone has time to do twitter as well as Gransnet and FB.

I follow GN members I am friends with but don't go out of my way to use it on a regular basis I also follow local Councils to keep up to date on forth coming events which I may be interested in.

I'm on Twitter, I follow local 'bodies', Gransnet, Gnetters and people I'm interested in, but I definitely don't get it.
I look at it when I'm very bored, look for more interesting people, and then forget it again!

I find Twitter irritating and incoherent. FaceBook is fine, I know what I am up to there, but Twitter is a bore.

I use Twitter but only to read what other people are saying, though I do, very rarely, reply. I follow mostly entities like the local council, local newspaper, store chains, etc. on a couple of occasions when I've had a problem with, for example, my post, or an online store, I've found you get a quicker response by posting on Twitter than by contacting Customer Services - they don't want problems "out there" for all to see, haha. I think, like all online forums, if used properly Twitter can be interesting and useful. Unfortunately, again like all online forums, it can get out of line sometimes and people can be very nasty.

I'm a passive tweeter. I found if I just follow certain people I get notified of all sorts of things that are happening in the world. I re-tweet to spread the word. Why not start by following Gransnet on Twitter? Just join, pick a username and search for Gransnet or click on the Twitter icon above these posts.